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Wednesday, November 10, 1971
University Daily Kansan
KANSAN comment
Readers Respond
Editorials, columns and letters published on this page reflect only the opinions of the writers.
Sad Vietnam Legacy
Defense Secretary Laird just came back from a fact finding trip to Vietnam. He says he was amazed at what he found, that Vietnamization made him decide and that the troops will be able to come home at an accelerated rate.
Nixon will no doubt be on TV soon to announce the new withdrawal schedule and once again explain his plan for a "generation of peace."
I would submit that the Vietnamese might disagree. For as the troops have been coming home, the threat of a bomb dropping at an ever-increasing rate.
The Grand Old Party is bringing
a "Generation of Peace," they
$8.9.
Republicans like that phrase. They are quick to point out what they see as the justice of its acronym, GOP.
Republicans are quick to point out that the number of bombing sorties is down to just over half what it was during the peak of the fighting. But they don't talk about tonnage. A new study done at Cornell University reveals that since Nixon has come to the White House, in terms of tonnage, more bombs have been dropped in Southeast Asia than the
first four years preceding the proceeding in the mission—the era of heaviest fighting.
And if the bombing continues at a steady rate until, say around election time next year, the total tonnage dropped in Southeast Asia will surpass four times the total for World War II.
Republicans are quick to point out that it is their administration that is getting us out of the war. Maybe not as quick, as some would like, they always say, but nevertheless getting us out.
And I thought the parking lot theory—blast Vietnam to Hell and cover it with asphalt making ample storage space for Japanese auto manufacturers—went out with Barry Goldwater.
I would also submit that when we get out, shortly before election time next year, we consider this promise when we go to the polls.
We will be out of Vietnam.
But before you mark your 'X': by Richard Nixon's name, also consider, in what will have to be the most morbid stretch of your imagination, what we will have left behind.
—Mike Moffet
From The New Republic
Leaving It to Papa
In the past 50 years Winston House power has soared while congressional power has sunk. That's America's story ball a B. It's that it shifted in power has been so gradual that nobody thinks much about it, and yet the change is so great. And the power has a different form of government.
It began back after World War I but in recent times Vietnam brought it to a head as LBJ pushed a war that Congress hoped would be over. When he submitted the Totonik Gulf resolution, Congress whooped it through with only two nays. Now comes Mr. Nixon who invaded Cambodia without consulting anybody and who now supports a far more entire economy under federal control. Congress just gapes.
I look around in amazement, Congress is hardy a co-qual branch anymore; it is a subordinate. If Truman had tried this a second time he would have jumped right out of its skin. Truman sought to stop a rail strike by drafting workers and outraged everybody. Mr. Nikon has a simpler procedure he keeps: he restrains workers' days and then moves into a kind of modified corporate state. Part of his technique is sticking in needles and part is hypnosis; it’s not the same as a capuccine. I’m not saying the thing something had to be done quick after wasting two years on a game plan that didn't work. But I don't think people have yet the complexities and possible consequences of the thing.
Presidential power used to be modified or guided by the cabinet, and often the big decisions were collectivized. In the Nixon administration the faceless cabinet seems to have been designated to the inner White House. The formal interior of Interior Secretary Hickel when he pleaded merely to get to see him.
Presidential power used to be more closely circumscribed by a belligerent press, a commanding Congress. In one way or another these curbs all have been altered. As to the press, FDR week before the war, he was crippled but he learned what
troubled the country by the reporters' questions. It was two-way communication. Mr. Nixon, by contrast, has had only 20 press meetings and eight months. The press is often obnoxious and is always dreaming up mean questions. But for a leader who can be queried in parliament, the press cannot penetrate to penetrate the White House shell.
Mr. Nixon has got a substitute, a one-way communication system. I mean, of course, the spot TV shows. This is government-by-surprise with sudden, startling appearances. He has been on the air 46 times, or more recently (28 years) and thrice as many as JKF (15 appearances in two years, 10 months).
The Supreme Court was always there as a curb, too, and still is. Often it has served as a balance between the need in too much of a hurry, or speeding it up sometimes in time of delay. The great Warren Court was "activist" largely because of a lazy Congress and a President who had little civil rights. It advanced the rights of the poor and oppressed.
Well, the new Nixon Court won't do much of that, I guess, as it is being reconstituted. Mr. Bush has already least those named for selection from his original list, caused as sora a response as anything since Cambodia. For the first time in memory, this reporter heard people argue whether what Mr. Bush had said or whether he was consciously trying to downgrade the Court by picking micraticrates.
Another curb on the President, of course, is Congress. But Congress is bored with responsibility. It rarely initiates legislation any more. There were big digs in old days; the cry "Borah's up!" would bring interest to lawmakers. Senate press gallery. Now the senators keep their best speeches for television.
parse-strings. When Vietnam went saint didn't dare step in. It left the driving to Papa, and comfortably from the back seat.
Everybody knows, why Congress is losing power. It's because it won't reform procedures. Like feudal lords the committee chairmen, picked by the president, interested in their own bailiwicks and in local affairs. Congress is wildly inefficient in handling the
Now comes the economic crisis, which illustrates ironically how little Congress has to say and their own hands. They pushed on Mr. Nikon an economic blank check equivalent to the Tonkin Gul resolution. This was the Economic Stabilization Act. They wanted it to be, but didn't think the President would use it. They wanted to embarrass him. He said he didn't want it, wouldn't use it, and would veto it. Mr. Nikon had technical provisions he liked. Democrats rubbed their hands at their刮 trick. Then, suddenly, Mr. Nikon set up a new economic program using all the power they given him and demanding more.
Maybe this is the wave of the future; maybe we will see a me-too Congress from now on, and even for a while a me-too Supreme Court. But three things about the economic plan scare us. First is the huge direction in benefits it gives to the poor and corporations as against the poor. Second is the precedent it sets for aggrandizing the Executive while demeaning Congress.
Third is the anxious feeling that this extraordinary, extemporized move to the corporate state may not work. Seven men will decide what prices you and I pay; it is a challenge of salaries and wages. Can you run America that way? It is divorced from public control. In other days an observer would simply have said no, it won't work, but today it must work, for we are all in the same dangerous boat together.
It would seem likely that in time Mr. Nikon will produce a boom (with a $30-billion deficit this year, and another expected to increase soon). But the danger comes later on from a real inflation blow-off around 1973, after the election. And then? Well, if the thing turns into a mess there will be tougher rules (to discipline labor) and probably a Congress rubbing its eyes.
Reclamation
Recycle Rap; 'Comprerdre'; Relate
To the Editor:
This letter comes in response to a question I asked about the goals of the K. U. in the November S. Kanan, but also to all those who are unclearly about the actual goals of the K. U.
The Reclamation Center was never conceived as a project which as a strictly business entity we knew that with all the manpower, sorting, storing, and loading work we would need to do, it would be difficult, if all this was money. However, it was hoped we could break even. Indeed, now that the center has been open for ten months, we have enough labor to sort and other handling costs we could only guess at before. We hope the Reclamation Center soon be in the black. Even so, we have plenty of materials because is this because Coca-Cola, Owens-Illinois, and U-Hauk have helped reduce our shipping costs and that is because the Corporation has provided us a rent-free facility. The "whomper" is an inefficient, and without much volunteer labor (which we hope will be for free), we have an expensive method of recycling.
Further, in the last four or five months, we have increased our costs by picking up cans and bags from restaurants, and also at local apartment complexes and K.U. Residence Hall's. This was the result of an assumption that the more volume for the center, the more profit. By September, we had discovered that our costs for this service were significantly lower than throwing the center back into the red. At this time, we discontinued the service for taverns and cafeterias at apartments and dorms. Why? Because we felt that at these places, we were doing more than just collecting cans and bottles. We should show their concern for the
problem of solid waste. It is the policy of the K.U. Reclamation Center to lose money if by losing it you get more individuals involved.
as well as my own individual involvement? Throughout our experience with the center and our study of the climate, we have come to conclude that recycling is not economically feasible right now, that people are working to bring soon to a point where it can be expected to take ten years for that to happen. There are officials in this city who openly admit that when the climate goes away, the another site may not exist. Further, we could lose the present site at any time if contamination arises around the site begins. It may be that we will have to pay for reclamation, until reclamation is already supported the center by bringing in their cans and bottles down are now *paying* for reclamation in terms of their own resources. If we don't trash and hauling it down, My remark about the economic disaster for the center in the state of California produced of metal and glass waste produced by the steel Center should pick up loads of cans and bottles to increase our volume. I then mentioned that wide-scale reclamation, with our additional collection costs, could kill us financially. If this remark was widely misinterpreted, I must have reassured Lawrence that Lawrence must advance one of the more efficient and hopefully, economical systems of solid waste recovery. Lawrence must pay for it, we wish to show the government, in as many ways as possible, that numerous concerned citizens are ready to help the K.U. Reclamation Center.
To answer some of Mr. Burkart's other questions. (1) The only transactions by which Bill Ebert might have had
Reclamation Center money, was through the resale of returnable bottles (which people often bring to the grocery store. This usually includes $20 or less, and is promptly supported with the Union the next month for important time, I imagine that, that time was broken in to. 2) In regard to the Reclamation Center being a member of the committee which chose the new director was made up of. Dr. Robert Anenqebrun, Director of Environmental Studies, Dr. Kenneth Armitage, Chairman of the Biology Department and member of the Emerson, the original Reclamation Center Director; Mr. Chris Kettel, who runs the environmental exponent; Ms. James Keowen, the original Mr. James Koewenig, 1970 Hope Award winner and a leading local environment exponent; Ms. President; Dr. Ross McKinney, one of the nation's recognized experts on environmental issues, most knowledgeable people about the solid waste problem, and Mr. Jerry Slaughter, a member of the Auditing Committee and Finance and Auditing Committee.
The majority of the people have little or nothing to do with the Student Senate, and to associate them with a particular appointment, after the hours of interviews and discussions, is an insult to their intelligence and/or commitment. Reclamation Center is interested in other environmental concerns because of the people who, when they are given any environmental activity and who now save cans and bottles. We feel that if we could make sure that all these people known to them, they might indeed further lend their support. Due to the fact that we realize the importance of also the many other events pressing environmental concerns, we feel cooperation with these other groups will not only help us deal with these other goals of the center.
I realize I have not answered
my questions. I was raised,
and I wish to empathize with
my accessibility. I am happy to
take to any group or individual at
work.
Language
Gary Jacobs,
K.U. Reclamation Center
director
To the Editor:
The foreign language requirement is once again under scrutiny (Kansan Nov. 5, 1971). The committee (NTEC) "accepts the importance of a knowledge of foreign languages" as laid down in the 1989 report by the Foreign Service. It did not agree that the student should be required to learn a foreign language "if, according to such a knowledge would not 'be taught to him in his chosen field.'
A total of 1,840 students voted for the removal, another 1,301 for the reduction of the foreign student population, and some seem that a break-down of these overall numbers into classes is necessary. More than 1,358 sophomore and 1,480 men participated in the poll. Many of the entering students are not as well prepared to face the field" will be; such a decision is not easy to come by, and frequently takes several years before very unfair to themselves and to future beginning classes to cut out a requirement they may not have.
I would agree, however, that large class size, and the ensuing lowering of the quality of instruction, may be engaging the interest of the already reluctant student. But, here too, a motivated individual with more ability to explore aspects, whereas the non-involved student has been known to bring his negative attitude to less demanding classes above definition, should be more conducive to an active learning experience. One of the possible advantages of this situation may be a revision of the student's high school preparation which, ideally, should provide him with more basis for their future studies.
In conclusion, I should like to suggest that even a limited language can be of insufficient help while travelling abroad, and it may be as helpful in this context as hospitality to foreign visitors.
By Sokoloff
The NCC, in support of scratching the requirement, proposes that the University develop a new development of self-discipline" by offering the students the challenge to encounter within its boundaries the abilities and risks of freedom. What about women? Such a proposal is not very realistic because the self-dedication given by it lessens responsibilities. Most of us are human enough to require a more or less energetic push toward success, but most, a strong dose of motivation).
Paula Gottdenher,
Lawrence Graduate Student,
(Formerly of Vienna, Austria)
Relations
Griff and the Unicorn
To the Editor:
Since I was present at the November 2 meeting of the City Commission, my first reaction upon seeing your story the next day was to respond to the Police-Community Relations Steering Committee report was to wonder why the headline writer (s). Upon reading the story itself, I quickly realized I had misplaced the blame for the negative impression which your Tuesday's meeting conveys. My next impulse was to place this blame on your reporter, but upon seeing he was not given enough background information during
the course of that meeting to write a more accurate article.
'Copyright 1971. David Sokoloff.'
Regardless of where any blame should be placed, the fact remained several errors of fact and interpretation, something it seems particularly regrettable is new the Menninger program to improve communication between the Lawrence community.
Two reports were issued some time after the last of the ten workshops took place in Topeka, Kansas, and they were issued in early April. One was the final report of the Meninger staff members who had worked on the project. The other was the report of the group, composed of about 16 members of diverse groups) which consisted largely of a long series of recommendations regarding the treatment to alleviate tensions. About a month ago the City Commission issued a written response to most of these recommendations, and it became clear that as being discussed last Tuesday.
Your article left the impression that the City Commission was unhappy with the "results" of the study. The commission I am sure is quite untrust. What Mayor Pujilain said Commission members were unhappy about is the lack of a strong focus on the good suggestions made as a result of the workshops, in many cases because of the virtually empty city budget due to the "tax id."
In the first place, Rawleigh Zilliox represents the Steering Committee, of which he was a member of the Board of Foundation. Also, as far as I know, the series of workshops was not funded by the Menninger Institute or any grant from the Governor's Commission on Criminal Administration, which was supplemented by regular city funds. It is possible that the foundation would be part of the expense for their staff, but it is my understanding that the Foundation was paid for making the workshop project
As reported at the November 3 meeting of the city's Human Relations Commission, plans are currently being developed for a new law that would involve the newly hired additions to the Police Department, representatives of the city administration, K.U. people and other Lawrence citizens in need of assistance to their workers. While these will probably have a somewhat different format than the Menninger workshops, they should also be pleased to receive understanding in our city.
While your report of John Naramore's remarks was essentially negative, you recognize that the workshops were set up primarily to promote greater understanding between the members of the policy force and other segments of the community following a period of intense confrontation. While it is unfortunate here that this is not a cause for concern during such workshops nor even by the Commission, at least not inability to suggest any concrete solutions to the problems of the poor in our mist probably influence the community, is aware of their complexity.
Although I believe firmly in the freedom of the press, I also believe that when a paper gives prominent coverage to events and news, it is better to help preserve the delicate balance between often radically different groups in Lawrence, such reports should be checked by someone with experience involved before being published. If your reporters need more background information on matters concerning the City, I feel sure the city manager and a staff would be glad to supply it.
Carol D. Worth Graduate Student
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